Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Wednesday that the ministry is coordinating with the civil aviation sector to arrange extra flights to the UK on Thursday to help Chinese students facing difficulties returning to China.

Hua said that China has been paying close attention to Chinese students studying abroad. The volume of international flights has been greatly reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, causing difficulties for Chinese students to return home. Chinese embassies around the world have taken actions to help these students.

Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, said in an interview on Tuesday that there are 220,000 Chinese students studying in the UK, including 15,000 elementary school students living with British families.

There are 168 flights operating between China and the UK weekly during normal times. But that number has decreased to more than 20, according to Liu.

The ambassador said he has written a letter to the UK's secretary of state for education and asked for the education department to take care of Chinese students. The Chinese embassy in the UK has also been making great efforts to solve the problems the students face, said Liu.

(Cover: People wear protective face masks in Westminster as the number of coronavirus cases grow around the world, London, Britain, March 17, 2020. /Reuters)